Dungeons & Dragons Discontinues Portuguese Translations

Dungeons & Dragons will no longer be published in Portuguese after this
year.

By Christian Hoffer - February 24, 2024 09:50 am EST

Wizards of the Coast has announced they will stop translating Dungeons &
Dragons books into Portuguese, less than 2 years after launching its
Portuguese language line. Late last night, Wizards of the Coast
announced that they planned to discontinue Portuguese translations of
Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks after releasing three books originally
published in English in 2022. In a statement published to D&D Beyond,
Wizards of the Coast blamed "rising costs and shifts in global demand"
for the decision, stating that Portuguese-language D&D books had not
kept pace with "rising costs across the board." Wizards said they still
planned to publish D&D books in English, French, German, Italian,
Japanese, and Spanish, although not every book would be released in
every language.

The move comes less than three years after Wizards of the Coast seized
control of its foreign language publications after a brief lawsuit and
eventual settlement with former license holder Gale Force Nine. After it
had taken control, former executive producer Ray Winninger touted the
move as a way to expand Dungeons & Dragons' reach and build a "global
community" of D&D fans. Winninger noted in a blog post posted to D&D's
webpage that Wizards had made a "long-term commitment" to the
publication of these books, stating that they were hiring dedicated
teams to work on these projects, and make reviews and updates to
localized content.

In 2022, Wizards announced that they were adding Portuguese-language D&D
books to its foreign language lines, focusing on the Brazilian
Portuguese dialect. "This announcement is extremely important for the
Brazilian D&D community, which has been following Dungeons & Dragons for
decades," said Reynaldo Barbella, then head of LATAM for Wizards of the
Coast. "D&D fans in Brazil can be sure that we will be listening to
them, providing all the necessary support, and working to offer new
localized content. In addition to the core rulebooks, we will launch new
and localized products throughout the second half of 2022."

However, less than a year after this announcement, Hasbro laid off
several Wizards of the Coast staff members in Brazil and Mexico,
including its community managers hired to grow the D&D community. Other
staffers were reassigned or given new roles, such as Barbella, who now
is listed as a senior e-commerce manager with no direct mention of RPGs
in his job description on LinkedIn.

The Brazilian Portuguese RPG community is a growing one, despite lengthy
delays in receiving official material. For reference, an official
Portuguese version of the D&D Player's Handbook for Fifth Edition was
only released in 2019, five years after the release of 5th Edition in
English. Portuguese-speaking players have often had to resort to either
fan translations or piracy to obtain official releases.

Reaction to the announcement has largely been met with criticism and
scorn among Portuguese-speaking players, with several commenting to
ComicBook.com that they felt Wizards had "abandoned" the Brazilian and
wider Latin American community with the move. Others have commented on
Reddit and elsewhere that the Portuguese tabletop RPG community was a
niche one and that most players could use the English language books and
content reasonably well. The timing of the move comes less than 2 months
after Hasbro laid off numerous staffers, including some at Wizards of
the Coast, in a preemptive response to weak 2023 revenue.

" This date will be marked as the day WotC turned its back on one of
the largest and most passionate D&D communities. It's a shame that the
grandeur of this game that inspires so many Portuguese speakers doesn't
fit into the small minds of Wizards of the Coast's current board.
https://t.co/PmWPtFIASv"
— Guga, sembi e além.... (@sembiano) February 24, 2024

On 2/26/2024 1:44 PM, kyonshi wrote:
>
> Dungeons & Dragons Discontinues Portuguese Translations
>
> Dungeons & Dragons will no longer be published in Portuguese after this
> year.
>
> By Christian Hoffer - February 24, 2024 09:50 am EST
>
> Wizards of the Coast has announced they will stop translating Dungeons &
> Dragons books into Portuguese, less than 2 years after launching its
> Portuguese language line. Late last night, Wizards of the Coast
> announced that they planned to discontinue Portuguese translations of
> Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks after releasing three books originally
> published in English in 2022. In a statement published to D&D Beyond,
> Wizards of the Coast blamed "rising costs and shifts in global demand"
> for the decision, stating that Portuguese-language D&D books had not
> kept pace with "rising costs across the board." Wizards said they still
> planned to publish D&D books in English, French, German, Italian,
> Japanese, and Spanish, although not every book would be released in
> every language.
>
> The move comes less than three years after Wizards of the Coast seized
> control of its foreign language publications after a brief lawsuit and
> eventual settlement with former license holder Gale Force Nine. After it
> had taken control, former executive producer Ray Winninger touted the
> move as a way to expand Dungeons & Dragons' reach and build a "global
> community" of D&D fans. Winninger noted in a blog post posted to D&D's
> webpage that Wizards had made a "long-term commitment" to the
> publication of these books, stating that they were hiring dedicated
> teams to work on these projects, and make reviews and updates to
> localized content.
>
> In 2022, Wizards announced that they were adding Portuguese-language D&D
> books to its foreign language lines, focusing on the Brazilian
> Portuguese dialect. "This announcement is extremely important for the
> Brazilian D&D community, which has been following Dungeons & Dragons for
> decades," said Reynaldo Barbella, then head of LATAM for Wizards of the
> Coast. "D&D fans in Brazil can be sure that we will be listening to
> them, providing all the necessary support, and working to offer new
> localized content. In addition to the core rulebooks, we will launch new
> and localized products throughout the second half of 2022."
>
> However, less than a year after this announcement, Hasbro laid off
> several Wizards of the Coast staff members in Brazil and Mexico,
> including its community managers hired to grow the D&D community. Other
> staffers were reassigned or given new roles, such as Barbella, who now
> is listed as a senior e-commerce manager with no direct mention of RPGs
> in his job description on LinkedIn.
>
> The Brazilian Portuguese RPG community is a growing one, despite lengthy
> delays in receiving official material. For reference, an official
> Portuguese version of the D&D Player's Handbook for Fifth Edition was
> only released in 2019, five years after the release of 5th Edition in
> English. Portuguese-speaking players have often had to resort to either
> fan translations or piracy to obtain official releases.
>
> Reaction to the announcement has largely been met with criticism and
> scorn among Portuguese-speaking players, with several commenting to
> ComicBook.com that they felt Wizards had "abandoned" the Brazilian and
> wider Latin American community with the move. Others have commented on
> Reddit and elsewhere that the Portuguese tabletop RPG community was a
> niche one and that most players could use the English language books and
> content reasonably well. The timing of the move comes less than 2 months
> after Hasbro laid off numerous staffers, including some at Wizards of
> the Coast, in a preemptive response to weak 2023 revenue.
>
>    " This date will be marked as the day WotC turned its back on one of
> the largest and most passionate D&D communities. It's a shame that the
> grandeur of this game that inspires so many Portuguese speakers doesn't
> fit into the small minds of Wizards of the Coast's current board.
> https://t.co/PmWPtFIASv"
>     — Guga, sembi e além.... (@sembiano) February 24, 2024

This feels kind of stupid considering Brazil has a ton of people and
from what I know a very active ttrpg scene.

On Mon, 26 Feb 2024 13:45:53 +0100, kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

>On 2/26/2024 1:44 PM, kyonshi wrote:
>>
>> Dungeons & Dragons Discontinues Portuguese Translations

>
>
>This feels kind of stupid considering Brazil has a ton of people and
>from what I know a very active ttrpg scene.

Even stupider because Hasbro a) fought a law suit to get control of
the translations, stealing it away from a smaller publisher, then b)
made a public long-term commitment to support the translations, and c)
is in the midst of several controversies that have already alienated
many D&D fans.

Financially, this decision may make sense: if it costs X dollars to
produce the translations, but we're only earning X-Y dollars, cancel
the translated versions. But its foolish if it costs you the favor of
many customers.

It's not that I think a corporation should necessarily work against
interests financially... but if it makes a commitment (and uses legal
clout to force out its partners), it ought to stick by those
commitments. And if it can't meet those commitments, don't make them
in the first place.

The recent popularity of D&D amongst the general public seems to have
made Hasbro forget that there are MANY alternatives to D&D... and a
lot of them are better games than D&D (heresy, I know). D&D's biggest
selling point is its popularity - it's the known brand - and its
recent actions over the past few years seem to be actively working to
destroy that popularity...

On 2/26/2024 4:16 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

>
> The recent popularity of D&D amongst the general public seems to have
> made Hasbro forget that there are MANY alternatives to D&D... and a
> lot of them are better games than D&D (heresy, I know). D&D's biggest
> selling point is its popularity - it's the known brand - and its
> recent actions over the past few years seem to be actively working to
> destroy that popularity...
>

It really is the brand. From what I noticed a lot of the players are
much more in love with the idea of a roleplaying game than they are fond
of DnD. It's only inertia that keeps a lot of these people with DnD
instead of drifting off to other game systems they might like better.
Which is not that different from how the hobby started 50 years ago...

But well, Hasbro is trying to establish the brand even if they suck at it.

On Mon, 26 Feb 2024 20:09:03 +0100, kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

>On 2/26/2024 4:16 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
>>
>> The recent popularity of D&D amongst the general public seems to have
>> made Hasbro forget that there are MANY alternatives to D&D... and a
>> lot of them are better games than D&D (heresy, I know). D&D's biggest
>> selling point is its popularity - it's the known brand - and its
>> recent actions over the past few years seem to be actively working to
>> destroy that popularity...
>>
>
>It really is the brand. From what I noticed a lot of the players are
>much more in love with the idea of a roleplaying game than they are fond
>of DnD. It's only inertia that keeps a lot of these people with DnD
>instead of drifting off to other game systems they might like better.
>Which is not that different from how the hobby started 50 years ago...
>
>But well, Hasbro is trying to establish the brand even if they suck at it.

In this case, it looks less like Hasbro is trying to establish the
brand as they are to simply gain more control of over it. D&D was
already popular in Brazil (or so said the article), and Gale Force
Nine, a smaller publisher, was providing translations to that
audience.

Arguably this may have been because Hasbro - seeing a spike in D&D's
popularity - was blinded by dreams of turning D&D into a super-massive
franchise to rival Transformers, and wanted to ensure they had
unquestioned rights of distribution. More likely it was about money
(why share profits when you can do it all yourself?). Now it's all
about reducing costs (and limiting complications in case you want to
sell the IP).

All of which makes sense for the corporation. None of it is good for
the product itself... or the customers.